Manufacture of brushes.



H. P. MOMILLAN. MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1, 1912.

CQLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH Cb. WASHINGTON. D C.

Patented May 2?, 1913.

IINITED STATF% PATENT @FFlWE.

HUGH P. MCMILLAN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WM. A. TOTTLE 6c 00.,

A FIRM COMPOSED OF WILLIAM A. TOTTLE AND MORTON P. TO'ITLE, OF BALTI- MORE, MARYLAND.

MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH P. MOMILLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Brushes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of brushes and has for its object to improve and simplify the method of manufacturing brushes and particularly that branch of the manufaeture which has to do with the preparation of the bristles to receive the cement or rubber which is commonly used to bind the butt-' ends of the bristles together.

In the manufacture of brushes and parbeen assembled into approximately or somewhat the shape they are to have in the completed brush, to temporarily retain the bristles as nearly as possible in the formthey are to have in the completed brushu' This fiaxseed coating must be applied and then allowed to set before the manufacturreaches a certain stage of manufacture, the

flaxseed coating must be removed from the flag-ends of the bristles, which causes another delay and expense.

By means of this invention the delays caused by applying the flaxseed, allowing the same to set as well as the expense accompanying the removal of the fiaxseed, are all avoided, and the bristles are held in a way that will enable the bunch of bristles to be handled more readily than can be done with the flaXseed-bound bristles. Also by means of my invention I am enabled to so temporarily secure the bristles near the flag-ends that the butt ends thereof may readily spread, flare or separate one from another, and thereby enable the comparatively thick or stifl rubber cement to readily enter the flared butt-ends of the bristles to a proper depth. After applying the rubber cement to the butt ends of the bristles and the latter are secured together, the clamp on the flag-ends may be removed or it may Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 1, 1912.

Patented May 2?, 1213.

Serial No. 674,680.

remain in place until the butt-ends are permanently bound by a suitable ferrule.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the invention wherein,

Figure 1 shows a bunch of bristles of a definite quantity which have been arranged about a block,-the latter being at the butt ends of the bristles. Fig. 2, shows the same with a ferrule temporarily encircling the butt-ends of the bristles and the block thereon. Fig. 3, illustrates the same and also shows a temporary fabric band encircling the flag-ends of the bristles. Fig. l, shows the same with the addition of a mechanical clamp that extends about the fabric band at the flag-ends of the bristles v to securely bind the latter. ticularly that class of brush in which the bristles are secured in vulcanized rubber, it is a common practice to apply a tem-I porary cement such as flaxseed to the flagends of the bunch of bristles after they have Fig. 5, shows an end view of the bunch of bristles with the clamp in place. Fig. 6, illustrates the bunch of bristles rigidly clamped at the flag-ends and the block at the butt-ends and also shows the ferrule in a position adjacent to the clamp,the ferrule having been moved from the butt-ends to free the latter. Fig. 7, shows the bristles clamped rigidly at the flag-ends and the block pushed inwardly and away from the butt-ends to spread the latter and also shows the rubber cement coating applied to the spread buttends, and Fig. 8, shows the brush proper caused by with the ferrule and block in place at the butt-ends of the rubber cemented bristles ready to be put on a vulcanizer to harden the rubber.

I11 the manufacture of a brush in accordance with this invention the bristles, 1, are first weighed out or the quantity determined in some suitable way. The entire quantity of bristles is then preferably divided in equal parts so that a suitable center block, 2, may be placed at the butt or rootends, 3, of the one part of the divided bristles and the other part of the bristles laid on top of the block thereby interposing the block in the center of the bunch of bristles at the butt-ends as shown in broken lines in Fig. 1. The flag-ends, at, of the bristles will at this stage of manufacture lie close together. A suitable metal ferrule, 5, is next slipped onto the bunch of bristles from the flag-ends and said ferrule is pushed onto the butt-ends of the bristles to temporarily bind the latter about the inserted block, 2, as shown in Fig. 2. During this placing of the ferrule on the butt-ends, as just described,

the bristles are manipulated to insure that substantially all of the butt or root ends will be alined so they may subsequently be properly cemented. At this point in the manufacture of the brush it is necessary in order to properly handle the bunch of bristles that the latter be held together to enable the application of the rubber cement to the buttends. It is desirable also that the butt-ends, which are to receive'the cement, be as free and loose as possible to allow the cement to' work in at said ends uniformly and to a proper depth.

By referring to Fig. 3, of the drawing, it will be seen that while the butt-ends of the bristles are held by the metal ferrule about the center block I encircle the flag-ends, 4. of the bunch of bristles with a fabric band, 6, of suitable flexible material. In practice I have found that paper answers this purpose, and I therefore form the bands from that material. This band is wrapped about the flag-ends of the bunch of bristles and the ends, 7, thereof are lapped and may or may not be secured together. A mechanical clamp, 8, is then employed to engage the longer opposite sides of the band, 6, to compress or clamp the bristles in the band. As the band is flexible it will readily allow its opposite sides to be pressed together but will prevent the bristles from spreading during the clamping operation. The particular form of clamp is immaterial and may be very different in construction from that shown in the drawing, but I have found the form of clamp that is illustrated to be satisfactory in practice. In the present instance the clamp comprises a U-shaped spring wire the free ends, 9, of which will normally spread apart when released but which are drawn together by means of a sliding thimble, 10, so as to clamp the bunch of bristles atopposite sides of the paper band as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing. The clamp. 8, may be utilized on brushes of various widths because the paper band, 6, will retain the bristles against spreading and the clamp merely serves to applv pressure at the opposite sides of the band. In practice the operation of applying the band and clamp is a rapid one and when completed the bunch of bristles is so firmlv clamped at the flagends that it can be handled with little or no care in conducting the further steps in the brush manufacture, or to that point where the bristles will be permanently held. After the flagends of the bristles have been securely clamped the metal ferrule, 5, may be removed or it is moved toward the clamp and the block, 2, is forced between the bristles in a direction toward the clamped flagends as shown in broken lines in Fig. 7, with the result that the butt-ends of the bristles will be spread apart. lVhile in this condition the free spread butt-ends of the bunch of bristles will be placed in a rubber solution or coated otherwise and the rubber cement because of the spread condition of said bristle-ends will readily flow between said ends as indicated at, 11, in Fig. 7. After the butt-end of the bunch is sufficiently bound together by the rubber hardening thereon the clamp, 8, and paper band may be removed. This exact period of re moval of the clamp, 8, is immaterial as the same may remain in place until the block, 2, and ferrule, 5, are returned to the buttends of the rubber cemented bristles as shown in Fig. 8 or it may be removed upon the rubber cement setting or becoming suiticiently hard tobind the bristles at the buttends together. After the block, 2, has been returned to the center of the butt-ends and the ferrule, 5, has been placed about the exterior of the rubber cemented butt-ends of the bristles, the latter will then be placed on a vulcanizer where the rubber will be permanently hardened and the brush proper will then be ready to receive the handle.

It will thus be noted that in the manufacture of brushes in accordance with my invention the freeing of the flag-ends of the bristles is instantly effected by the simple removal of the mechanical clamp and strip, and that I avoid entirely the use of fiaxseed or other similar cement binder and also the necessity of removing such temporary cement from the flag-ends of the bristles after the permanent cement has been applied to the butt-ends of the bristles.

The manner of attaching the handles to the brushes is carried out in various ways and has no part in the present invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. The improvement in the manufacture of brushes comprising the forming of a bunch of bristles with the flag-ends of the bristles arranged at one end of the bunch and the butt-ends of the bristles arranged at the opposite end of the bunch, temp0 rarily binding the butt-ends of the bristles while the flag-ends are loose; mechanically clamping the flag-ends of the bristles while the butt-ends are temporarily bound: releasing the temporarily-bound butt-ends to allow said butt-ends to spread to receive a cement; applying a cement to the spread butt-ends while the flag-ends remain mechanically clamped; applying a ferrule to the cemented butt-ends and hardening the cement.

2. The improvement in the manufacture of brushes comprising the forming of a bunch of bristles with the flag-ends of the bristles arranged at one end of the bunch and the butt or root-ends of the bristles arranged at the opposite end of the bunch temporarily binding the butt-ends of the bristles, encircling the flag-ends of the bunch of bristles with a flexible band to confine the latter end while the butt-ends are temporarily bound, clamping the flexible band about the flag-ends While the butt-ends remain temporarily clamped to compress and rigidly secure the flag-ends temporarily, releasing the temporarily-bound butt-ends of the bristles to allow said. butt-ends to spread, applying a cement to the released and spread butt-ends of the bristles while the flag-ends are rigidly secured, applying a ferrule to the cemented butt-ends of the bristles and hardening the cement at the ferrule-bound butt-ends.

3. The improvement in the manufacture of brushes comprising the forming of a bunch of bristles with the flag-ends of the bristles arranged at one end of the bunch and the butt or root-ends of the bristles ar ranged at the opposite end of the bunch, inserting a permanent block in the buttends of the bristles, placing a permanent ferrule around the butt-ends of the bristles to confine the bristles around the block in the center thereof, encircling the flag-ends of the bristles with a flexible band while the butt ends are confined by the permanent ferrule to confine the flagends, moving the permanent ferrule from the buttends toward the flexible band to free the block at the center thereof, forcing the block in the bunch of bristles toward the flexible band at the flagends to spread the bristles apart at the buttends, applying a cement to the spread buttends of the bristles While the flag-ends are confined, returning the block to the cemented butt-ends, returning the permanent ferrule to the cemented butt-ends to again confine the bristles around the block at the center and hardening the cement on the buttends of the bristles.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HUGH P. McMILLAN. lVitnesses G. FERD. Voer, CI-IARLEs B. MANN, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

